Process and material for thickening latex and like materials



"we as; 2119431 likefmaterialsswhichlwill not render:

theflikemateriabiunstable, s 3 the materials 7 aslfthickening"agents;: as.disclosed in the .-f'minmssreaes.m;gasses-metal-- ment lofijaciueo'us dispersionsj'ofrrubber and the e n TZ-mdmoreparticularlytoa;processaiicl to materials for; thickeningnlatex. f": iilThe'term latex used herein; to be concentrated.

use of' various agents .knownct'oithe prior vunderstood toinclufieinatural 'crudeand' t'ul'danizedi latex or I materialsianalogous to:latex, 'sucliras synthetic I materials iwhi'zh bear a sirnilarityjizto latex ;in' ipmperties; "The latex'inay be preserved with the usual vptes'ervativesi. such as ammonia. or fixed aliialis and-maybe eithervofinaturalstrength or,

this'purpo'se afiect iadverselyxthe properties of thefinished goodsswhenthelatezeis used thereon {or coating purposes, Accordingly, :it.is one? of the; objects of myiinvention toprovide athickem'ng' agentfor materialssuch as latex and the Again another disadvantageof the thickening aigents used hrinbeforeqha's beenithe fact that miinvention to provide a 'thiclcening'agfent and a process. for thickening rubber".:Ia:tex "andithe the latex. or

' 1 Another of: the disady'antageslof work a'long'i-this line, is'ithatgthe resultant aimduntkof the thickeninglagent itself: f Accordfor thickening} rubber latex};

ssammmmnmn 'rn mm V 'psmxANn LIKE MATEamLsm Gerry Heights, ,N. Y.,'assignor to "TA'glvance: Solveritsland Chemical Corporation,',;. v

Applicatia'n'July 16, 1940-, .7 a; erial N0.345,,Z63V e (elitist-s) v h I F 'i l he uis 'efofieven smallerquantities offthe'water soluble salts of cellulose dicarboxyla e i PI Cr] f ess for creaming latices and the, like is described and claimed in my copendin'g U. S; application ser. No; 372,840 filedronmJanuary 2, 1941-, j I

' l'jTheipreparation of the; aoidloellulose esters not i di'carboxylio' aeids:and ofTtheiifijlsalts a been described variousfUnited states patentsgand i also in'flth'e, Industrial and Enginee'rinjgiChemj istrylflmag azine for the month of March, 7 1940,

V by Malm. & Fordyce; .It willbe appreciatedthat.

while these materials themselvesi have been known there. has been no disclosure as to'the use of these estersorls'alts in alproce ss or asan agent In the present specificationtheterms and .fi'acicl: cellulose acetate dicarhoxylatw ai'e bothjus ed to designatelan ester oi cellulose'acei like .wihichswill not-advefseIy-"afiect'ithe' proper.- tiesgiof goods on.whifclrthis-material. maybe used;

" phthalie but not necessarily limited thereto;

v 'organiegamines of ;the-c1ass; of trie-thanolamine, morphol-ineandsimilar derivatives-can also be 7 employed. It should be appreciated, however,

f that-these are; merely "mentioned as ,examples;

tionf'tn provide a thickening agent a process for thickening latex and the likematerials in I '5 invention' in igeneialJcomprises:v

mg therewith alkali soluble: acid cellulose esters w of dicarboxylica'cidsgoifthewater soluble's'alts 1 o'f s'uch es'ters,. such Pas-.9101 instanceafi acid 7 cellulose 1 acetate itdicarboir'ylate which; has been? V e 7 'roces'sing I and thickening: latex (in-like? 'in'oductsr by admix-' converted into the cottesgiondiing waterlsoluble mtibythe add-ition u'falialkalis For; example; the usualtconcentrated latex is of a yery'fluid consistencyyhut'byt'the addition of selected quantities of a water solublesalt of an acid cellulose-acetatedicarboxylate this consistency can, be. altered" toz-an y desired degree up. If to that of a 'thick pastewith only asmali amount oat, the extraneous matter present; Forexample, about %-to;1 2 %0n the dry 'rubber'solids presem isiusuallyjsuflicient for the thickening of.

. latex for all practical purposes, butlarger 'quan-- tities 'may be used if desired 7 without limiting theinvention.

:tate; such asisobtained by} the-combining] ofa dicarboxylic acid--or its} anhydride .with a cellulose' acetate havingaat least one free hydroxyl' group,, the dicarboxylic acid being typified by For instance; other aci s', such as succinic acid;

can be-used, and it; should be understood that I' donotylimit myself to the use of the phthalic class of acids.

7 The al'kalis. whichmay be :usedflto' react with suchi estersto'produce a water soluble derivative of; the ester maybe, for example, suohassodium hydroxide sodium bicarbonate, or ammonium hydroxide- The: alkaline materials. such. as v the and-other types of alkal-is may beused without l I departing from theispirit and: scopeof ,my i-m vention. e a The ammonium salt of the ester has been soluble-andth-is does-not'afiectithe moisture resistanee of thefinished article i-nwhich the her oriatexor its "equivalent-is used.

A Inaterial which was partieularly suitable thickening latex and I analogous materials; was' prepared asf ollows- 5 l fitment-by weight er wate there is ad -eat parts by weight of 26'B.': ammonia To the resulting ammonia solution, there were I cellulose acetate .'este'r ffof=a dicarboxylic acid" added liparts'by weight of dry, granular, water: insoluble, cellulose acetate hydrogen :phthalate.

The ammonia solution reacted with the acid cellulose ester to form a water soluble salt of the cellulose ester in th form of a viscous solution," which was usable for the purpose of thickening 1 the rubber latex or analogous materials and contained the following components:

Relatively small additions of such watersoluble, cellulose ester salts to aconcentrated rubber latex having e. g. a solids content of about 60% producedflarge increases in the viscosity ofthe treated condition had a very fluid con-, sistencyand a low viscosity. Thus thatthe ad' dition' of as little as 0.9 part by weight of celluloseacetate hydrogen phthalate in the form of 'untreat'edfmixture.

. as that produced when the dip siinade in aii An ammonium salt of az'cumase dica'rboxylate has been used in the examples given, but. it

should be understood that I do not limit myself to the-use 01! these particular salts as any-other water soluble salt of such an ester, such as for ,example a morpholine' salt or a sodium salt, as well; as"; the alkali soluble acid cellulose dicarboxylatesthemselves, are fully usable. These all produce the desired thickening-effect when I mixed with latex and the ,like'products, but the q advantage of the ammonium and other similar 100 I salts is that these salts decompose in the dried rubber film to form or to revert to water insoluble cellulose. products which do not detract from the'water resistance of the dried film.

While'the examples cited as. illustrations: 0! 7 my invention demonstrate the use of natural rubber latex, it should be understoodthat this process is'equally adaptable so far as latices. and

I like products are concerned,- -whether they be its ammonium. salt to ajqu'antity of rubber latex."

containing 10 0 parts lby weight of rubber solids produced amixture' of a semi-pasty consistency V which wasvery greatly increased inviscosity as compared to the untreated latex;

.Thefso-called thickened latex displayed good stability, and both the stability and consistency remained ccnstant form'an y weeks. 7

' Example 2 I *The use, of the materials 'hereinbefore de- 7 s'criibedsasthickeningagents were used with-a form 'of vulcanized latex of approximately" 58% rubber-content, andwhich isknown to the trade as VultexPf A very considerable increase in the viscosity oi the latex'was' observed and the stability and consistency of the thickened product remained constant overla period of weeks;-

I v 7 Example 3- V 7 About 5 parts by weight of. the thickening agent solution described above were addedjto 100 parts i by weight of 'normal latex which had'a natural solids "content between 38% and 42%. The thickening in this case was appreciable, although not as pronounced as with the latex having a solids content of 60% by'weight. Even this smaller thickening effect was more than had been expected since most of the so-called thickening agentsfor latex have very little effe'ct, if any, on the viscosity of latices with' a natural rubber content between-38% and 42%., V

o s Examples! 7 J A latex-thickening agent mixture was compounded as follows? This compound prepared in the normal manner by suitable dispersion methods yields a thickened mixture suitable for making dipped articles s'uch'as'gloves and-the like. By using such a thickening material the deposit obtained for each dip of the article is about twice as great co-ncentratedei'ther by creaming or centrifuging;

thickening agent? selected from: the group coii"- s'isting of, the alkali soluble; acid cellulose dicarboxylates and .theinwatersolublesalts.

2.- A process, as 'clairned'in claim 1; in which the ammonium salt of a cellulosedi'carboxylate is used as thickeningagent.

3. A-proce'ss, as claimed inclaim inwhlch an alkali metal'salt of a cellulose dicarboxylate is usedjas thickening agentj v Parts byweight Concentrated"1atexz(60%) a 166 10% solution of ammonium salt of cellulose acetate hydrogen. phthalate 30 Clay a;. 25

Zinc oxide 5. Sulphur 1 fButyl Zimatef l..- 1

. is used as thickeningiagent. a. a

5. :A process, as claimed in claim l=,'in which I 4'. A process, as claimed in claim in which an organic base salt of .a'cellulose-dicarboxylate a water soluble salt-of'a cellulose acetate dicar: boxylate is used as thickening agent. "'6.'Afprocess,' as; .claimedzinclaim 1,111 which a water soluble" salt of an acid 'icellulose ester of a dibasic; arylfacid s is used as thickening agent.i-

7. A process, as-claimedin claim. 1, in' which a water soluble salt oilan acid cellulose ester of a dibasic alkyl acid-is used as thickening agent. 8. Azprocessasfclaimed in claim? 1; in which a water soluble salt of a g-cellulose Tacetate' phthalate is used as thickening-agent; r u 9. A process; as claimed in claim -1, n which a water soluble' s'alt'of a celluloseacetatesuccinate is used asithickening; agent.

10. A process, as 'claimed inv claim l, in which cellulose "acetate ammonium phthalate'is .used

as thickening agent; I 11; An aqueous dispersion of rubber and the 7 likematerials which has'been thickened by means of a thickening'agent'selected from" the group consisting. of the" alkali soluble acid cellu-' lose dicarboxylates and their "water soluble salts;

- GERRY v 

